HACIA was founded in 1979 by a group includingManny Rodriguez, Nelson Carlo, Robert Walker, and Ruben Melesio, who weren’t satisfied with the hispanic community in the construction industry and wanted to make a change. One of the founding members of HACIA and current member Nelson Carlo said HACIA started off many years before it officially became an organization.

“We had the idea for three years before it officially later became HACIA and decided to go for it and name our group,” Carlo said in a statement. The organization was initially the idea of Manny Rodriguez, who noticed other groups creating affirmative action organizations and we wanted to represent hispanics in the construction industry.”

The group gathered together a group of their closest comrades and started the first of HACIA’s many future gatherings.

“We would have meetings at a bar. Then it later became more formal and we started meeting at the Hillside Holiday Inn,” Carlo said. ” We weren’t sure where the organization was going, so we were very cautious. And years later in 1979, we officially became HACIA.”